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Volcano erupts near Tokyo

by Sanjay Jha | February 1, 2009 at 10:45 pm

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A Volcano near Japan's capital Tokyo has erupted on Monday morning and white smoke is billowing and volcanic ash, carried by winds, are falling on the Tokyo.

Mt Asama, straddling Gunma and Nagano prefectures, erupted early Monday from its summit crater, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The agency warned of the possibility of large ash deposits that could be scattered in areas within a radius of about 4 kilometers from the crater due to the 1:51 a.m. eruption.

After the eruption of the 2,568-meter volcano, smoke billowed from the crater reaching heights of about 2,000 meters shortly after 2 a.m., the agency said. The smoke was moving southeastward, it said. The agency had raised the volcanic eruption alert level for Mt Asama from 2 to 3 on the 5-stage warning scale Sunday. Level 3 prohibits people from going on Mt. Asama. Level 2 restricts them from approaching the crater area.

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Paschen

at 23:15 on February 1st, 2009

Tokyo, Feb 2 (Xinhua) Mount Asama, a volcano in central Japan erupted early Monday, spewing hot rocks and ash. No major damage was reported, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.The 2,568-meter volcano, straddling central Gunma and Nagano prefectures, about 145 km from Tokyo, erupted at 1.51 a.m. Monday, the meteorological agency said. TV reports showed ash showering down in neighbouring regions.
This volcano was last active in 2004.

Paschen

at 04:08 on February 2nd, 2009

This volcano is always active and smokes very often and it does erupt on a regular base with out causing any harm most of the times, in part because people expect it.

As I talked to other Japanese about this news here, they where actually surprised it made international news since it did receive next to no coverage here in Japan.

Now, If Fuji San was to go, that would be another story all together and make major new, for this would mean a disaster.